Green Bay — Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson managed to trim his roster from 79 to 75 Tuesday without releasing a single player.

The final exhibition game is scheduled for Thursday night in Kansas City. Because the starters aren't expected to play much, cutting even four players at the Tuesday afternoon deadline would have left coach Mike McCarthy short against the Chiefs.

So Thompson placed cornerback Al Harris, safety Atari Bigby and rookie running back James Starks on the physically unable to perform list. He also placed rookie running back Quinn Porter on injured reserve.

Neither Thompson nor McCarthy addressed the roster moves.

None of the transactions was a big surprise.

Harris preferred that he be kept on the 53-man roster, but it has been his call as to when he would return and he feels he needs more time to recover from a serious knee injury suffered last November. Not knowing when Harris would be ready, Thompson used an available card in his deck to help keep the current roster intact.

In the case of Harris, Bigby and Starks, none of the three had passed their physicals at the start of training camp and thus were eligible for PUP. Under league rules, anyone who is then transferred to regular-season PUP is ineligible to practice or play the first six weeks of the season.

After those six weeks, the player has up to three weeks to practice without counting against the 53-man roster, but once that time is up the club must decide whether to activate him, put him on season-ending injured reserve or cut him.

Bigby underwent surgery on his left ankle Aug. 6 and was told recovery could take four to eight weeks. Starks has been battling a hamstring injury he suffered in off-season workouts but thought he was close to returning. Both players should be well healed when they are eligible to return.

In Porter's case, the Packers couldn't put him on PUP because he had passed his physical and practiced. He suffered what his agent said was a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee but was seeking a second opinion, as the players union often recommends.

More than likely the Packers will reach an injury settlement with Porter that will compensate him for the time he would miss with the injury. If they do so, he would be released and ineligible to be re-signed by the Packers until Week 10 of the season.

The undrafted Porter showed potential right away and carried 21 times for 77 yards in three games, finishing with 12 yards on three carries before exiting the Colts game last Thursday night. He appeared to have at least a shot of being on the practice squad.

The Packers have to make their final cut to 53 on Saturday.

Super week

Most teams play their starting quarterback only a series or two in the final exhibition game, which means the backups get almost an entire game to play. For Matt Flynn, it may be the last time this season he gets to do something other than run out the clock at the end of a blowout.

"I don't know if you can compare it to a Super Bowl week, but it's definitely a big week," Flynn said. "I think all the (No.) 2s look forward to it. We're going to get more reps than we have all camp and then in the game, too. We're going to have some fun and hopefully put up some points."

This will be Flynn's first starting-type experience. He was third-string his rookie year and he missed the fourth game with a shoulder injury last year.

Flynn will be allowed to identify plays he likes and go over the script as Aaron Rodgers normally would do before a game.

So far, Flynn has completed 27 of 48 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. His passer rating is 69.7.

The good hands team

Last exhibition season, running back Ryan Grant lost only one fumble, and it came on a reception.

This year, he has two lost fumbles on 16 carries in three games. That's not acceptable for a guy who had 307 regular-season touches and just the one fumble.

"The expectations with this team are high," Grant said. "There's a reason why. We led the league in ball security. We take pride in that. You don't have a heart attack about it, but you make sure you clean some things. We did some things this week from a ball security standpoint. I did some things. It will be taken care of."

Grant said he thought his arm was down before he fumbled against Indianapolis but it was a fumble nevertheless and he had to accept responsibility.

Short stint

McCarthy said Rodgers would play just one series against the Chiefs and then exit.

Most of the first-teamers will follow suit on both offense and defense, but he said there will be some starters he will keep in the game a little longer. He said he wanted to see how the players got through practice Tuesday before determining exactly who would play and for how long.